Our Story

What's Our story, or how and why it all began:

I don’t remember where I read this: “Reading and writing are acts of discovery; the motion-picture duplicates images, the photograph captures the bird in its flight, reading and writing are flight itself.”

The Short Story Project was founded upon the belief that reading is an experience that can make a difference. An experience that enables reflection on the human condition, inspires empathy and encourages examination; that reading is more than a pastime; it is an activity that can serve as a bridge between people and cultures, a sounding board for voices and ideas.

Stories have been passed down the generational pipeline, by word of mouth, etched in stone, written on parchment, printed and bounded… Now we keep them in a digital sounding board that enables them to be shared by all: to migrate and cross geographical borders, territorial battlements, and language barriers. We aim to promote a lively, stimulating presence of short fiction in contemporary culture, to let voices of writers from across the world be heard and resonate.

Or perhaps I would put it this way:

I remember the tent, the straw mat, the phantom figures and objects that Sarin the Bedouin used to surround us with, as if they were born out of the flickering coals reflected in his eyes. I remember the morning sun scorching, turning the hawks’ cheeks red under their yellow glare. And how I would shove branches into the burrow holes and chase away rats and snakes, the hawks diving down, devouring them alive.

I remember myself going to the wadi, letting the hungry quicksand envelop me, until, miraculously, a large rock as if lent its shoulder to my feet and helped me steady myself.

I remember my small body waiting for Chava, the girl who made me feel as though without her my life would reach a dead-end, my fingers gently winding the stem of the wristwatch my father had given me (a Doxa), the beating of time against my wrist, while I dreamt I was sitting on a giant chair, Chava bending over and fitting me with a glass slipper shoe, straightening up and saying: “It’s him!”

The Short Story Project is the desire for wandering and discovery, a passion for the spirit of imagination, a passion for contemplation.

Iftach Alony

Founder

If you’d like to get involved and contribute to our project, head over to our Associates page.